Some Windmills Shouldn’t Be Tilted

Being a fan of musicals and enjoying the story line of Don Quixote, I have always been drawn to the folks pursuing the impossible dream and willing to joust against windmills in their efforts to bring justice to this world.  Windmill tilting is a noble task for the dreamers of this world and I applaud them!

However, in my great state of Texas, we now have folks wanting to battle windmills of a different kind; the kind found in wind-farms where green energy is produced, no petrochemicals are burned or consumed, and by harnessing the wind can produce a gazillion gigawatts of electricity per day.  What the …?

Their reasons are asinine.  They don’t like them “littering the landscape.”  Wait, you sure as heck didn’t mind seeing pump-jacks all over creation when they were pulling up Texas tea and filling your pockets with gold, now did you?  They claim they make too much noise.  Really?  I’ve stood next to them and they are quieter than a diesel engine pulling up oil from the ground.  They claim they are killers of birds.  The national avg. of bird kills per windmills is one bird a year per windmill.  Hmm, I think windshields and bumpers of cars are much more damaging to the bird population, not to mention those noisy  howling creatures we call “cats.”

So what is the real reason you tilt against the windmill?  I figure the folks who aren’t making money from them are ultimately ticked off the electric company didn’t pick your land to construct these energy producing money makers.  As for the rich ranches, aka the King Ranch, I suspect it is just another case of them wanting to throw their weight around to show who is really boss in their counties… the welfare of the rest of the state be damned.

Come on folks, if you must tilt windmills, then tilt windmills that make sense, not windmills that provide viable answers to energy problems without threatening our environment.

The Never Known Five

Amy got me!

Here are the rules:

1. Get tagged.

2. List five things that have not been revealed on your blog.

3. Tag five others.

Here goes…

1. I can’t stand raisins.  They look like shrivelled sheep droppings and have the texture of pickled dung beetles.
2. I get uncomfortable eating other people’s cooking to the point of having to fight an almost phobic desire to leave the room if a) I didn’t see them do it and b) if I can’t identify all of the ingredients.  Who knows, they might have tried to slip in liver or raisins into the dish.  Pot lucks are torture for me.
3. I can’t keep fingernails.  A nervous habit.
4. My hearing is getting so bad I have to almost read lips to hold a conversation in a noisy room.
5. My middle name is Edward.  I never talk about it or tell people about it since I never liked it.

1. I tag Slvr, Rhodent, L, Beth, and Dana.  I would’ve tagged -c but I doubt she would’ve responded although her answers would’ve been the most entertaining.

Flood Warnings

In our city you could relieve yourself in the street and generate a flood warning as we were so lovingly planned by our forefathers to be built in the middle of three creeks.  It never fails when the rain comes to watch people drive by barriers and get stuck in high water.  Our city council finally passed what I call the Idiot Law.  You will now be fined for being an idiot and trying to drive through high water, getting stalled out, and running the risk of being killed by high rising water.  I assume if you actually die from the flood waters your estate will pick up the $500 fine so all of your remaining family can call you an idiot for the rest of their lives.

The problem was getting so bad that the Texas Department of Transportation had started to put out jingles to remind people not to drive into high water.  I always thought they should let the public have a contest for such jingles to give us a chance to win something nice for our creativity.  Here are a few I would’ve entered…

If the water is a flowing, You ought’n be a going, ‘Cause your stupidity will be showing, And your car we’ll be towing.

Let’s make Texas a smarter state! Go ahead and cross.  *voice over* (Brought to you by the Texas Idiot Eradication Board)

You think you can make it. You think that you should try. Your lunacy you should quit, Before you kiss your butt goodbye.

The barrier is for clowns, who try to cross and drown. 

Anyway, I think you get the point.  You can put up all the barriers you want, produce cute jingles too, but Murphy’s Law will come into effect every time; “There will always be one more embecile than you had planned for.”

Stay safe folks.

Thursday Thirteen for March 29

Thirteen things about my week…

1. I know I’m not an accountant for all the right reasons but I have to admire them for their patience when you have to spend 15 minutes explaining to someone why they have to report capital gains on their tax return.  1) The financial company sends the IRS a copy of your 1099 Div and 2) if you don’t report it you will be assessed penalties and interest for failure to do so.  All of those explanations prompted the next question;  “Why would they penalize me for having interest?”  I think this is where I started pounding my head on the desk.
2. I had a friend who called me after reading one of the Working the Steps posts to say he had called Slvr because he had never known I was an alcoholic.  She told him I wasn’t, I was in Al-Anon, for friends and family of alcoholics.  Just goes to show I should clarify posts.
3. Took part of a rather weird discussion on coyote proliferation, when one of the participants made the next suggestion; “Why don’t we just catch them all and neuter and spay them?”  Hmm, I’ll go with that suggestion if you don’t mind us shooting them first to slow them down…
4. Amidst a howling mob of laughing kids, one of the people getting tax help asked me, “Why are all these kids here?”  Don’t know really know, we put up a sign and all of these kids just walked in off the street.
5. I am part of a team that is organizing a midnight basketball league.  When I was telling some folks about the revitalization of this program one of them asked, “So what time will they be playing Midnight Basketball this year?”  I’m guessing sometime around midnight…
6. Sitting in a room full of grant writing folks, we were stunned to hear the following.  “To apply for these funds you must be a 501(c)3 organization  If you are not a 501(c)3 then we cannot fund you.” Now get ready for the interesting question and response; ”If you are a church and do not have a 501(c)3 status, can you apply for these funds anyway?”  The killer answer folks was, “Yes, you can apply…”  Really?
7. I realized why math was not my friend in school when a young lady responded to my inquiry if she had lived with her parents for over 1/2 the year in which she replied, “Well, I have lived with them for five months so ‘yes’, I have lived with them over half the year.”  5/12 equals one half… no wonder fractions kicked my butt.
8. It has really hit me how quickly my daughter will be getting married.  I don’t if I can really define my emotions about the whole thing because on one hand you are thrilled for her and the exciting journey they will begin but on the other hand I am a bit frightened for her and the young man.  Marriage can be a tough gig.
9. I realized yesterday there are two major projects I have an opportunity to tackle this year that would great to accomplish but then I thought of how much time it would take to accomplish both of them and decided I didn’t have it in me to give that kind of time at this time which makes me start to fret I may be getting old… sigh.
10. Rain!  I woke up to the thunder and lightening this morning, it is rather a sweet sound.
11. Business Expo was yesterday.  I found it fun to walk around and network with folks, getting a chance to chat with old friends.
12. Took some friends out for a coke at Sonic last night.  They were such fun and a genuine joy to be with.
13. Going to be working at a community house project this Saturday.  Should be fun as it is my Leadership class and they are great folks to be around.

That is it, not exciting at all, but a busy week.

So why aren’t you posting?

I had a friend ask me why I hadn’t been posting lately and I had to tell them the truth that I just hadn’t been feeling up to snuff and with some time consuming projects on my plate, I really hadn’t had much time.

I know, excuses, excuses…

I have to admit, it was nice to be missed!

Graveyard Gaffs

Another conversation I had yesterday while waiting for the kids to finish their activity was with a fellow graveyard enthusiast who sees them as I do, bits of history waiting to be read.   As we talked about unique gravestones he asked if I had been noticing the gaffs on double monuments where the living had anticipated dying in the last century and had placed 19 for the first two numbers on the day of death side.  I have seen one or two of those and you have to wonder when 2000 hit if someone wasn’t saying, “oops” but I am sure those gaffs can be fixed.  The stone won’t look as nice but at least the date will be correct.

One of my favorite stones is found in the Santa Anna cemetery where the marker states, “Somewhere around here is buried a Texas Ranger.”  Hmm, that is good to know and not unusual happening since many early grave markers were wood.  I am surprised they felt the need to announce the fact instead of putting it up in a historical marker at the edge of the cemetery.

That is enough of the graveyard talk for today.  Hope everyone has a fantastic Friday!

Civil War Conversation

Had a chance to chat with another Civil War buff at the check presentation. It is always fun to hear other people’s perspective and to figure out where they are coming from. If they are from the South they will almost always refer to the war as the War of Northern Aggression as opposed to the Civil War. You will note they refer to Robert E. Lee with respect and have to almost spit out US Grant.

I don’t think the feeling is as strong in the North. Some of that may be from being raised with the winning side as opposed to us in the South whose ancestors went to the grave with their teeth on edge from being fed the bitter grapes of losing. It interests me that such a broad chasm of feelings can be seen in the same country 140 years after the fact. Perhaps with the upcoming generation those feelings will finally be put to rest.

Thursday Thirteen for March 22

Thirteen Things Going On In My Life Right Now

1. Had a “Ho” pizza and poker party night planned for tomorrow night.  Looks like that isn’t going to happen.  Sigh.  I was so looking forward to it.  Double sigh.
2. Watched Friday Night Lights last night and yuppers, the ol’ Frustrated and TGBO were there dancing away for all of two seconds.  I must say the balding spot on the back of my head was really nice (can’t they like fix that before they air the show?) but TGBO was absolutely stunning.
3. Fixed tacos last night fro the FNL watching session with Jman and Twyla.  They had traditional tacos and I had lettuce wrap ones.  Sometimes you just miss the crunch of a good ol’ taco shell.  It was a really great evening!
4. There is a commode sitting in my bedroom right now.  They had to but it somewhere while they tiled the floor and so for a couple of days I can really feel like a king since there is a throne in sight…
5. Talked with my oldest daughter last night.  It was great to chat with her while I cooked.  She is doing so well and quite frankly I don’t understand everything she is talking about at times (hey, French philosophy isn’t high on my priorities of concepts to learn and since they don’t look like they will have world dominance anytime soon, I doubt it ever will be) but still, she keeps the conversations fun and enjoyable.
6. Big check presentation today!  The folks who are delivering are such nice people and always fun to be with so this makes the whole event even more special!
7. I have my IRS tax site audit tonight.  Fun, fun, fun! Fixed the “missing poster” fiasco by getting a poster that states we do not discriminate for race, gender, etc… when we do taxes.  The poster came in Spanish.  Oh well.
8. I need to get busy and sell some pancake supper tickets for my Kiwanis club.  The club kids are excited about working at the pancake supper and it does raise money that is spent exclusively for the kids, but I am just running behind on getting any sold.  Sigh.
9. I was sitting with a group of kids yesterday and we were chatting about how one person’s embarrassment can be funny to everyone else around them, specifically someone falling, losing their school books, and looking rather ungraceful.  One child said it best when he said, “It might be funny, but it isn’t fun.”  Reminded me of how awkward those early teen years could be.
10. My March Madness brackets are toast.  Don’t really care who wins now.
11. The weather here was gorgeous yesterday!  I think we have a chance of rain today.  I like those spring showers.
12. My options for the summer are expanding.  I have a daughter who wants me to visit her in Buffalo, my parents want me to attend a family reunion in NM and then go on out to Arizona for mountains and fishing, and my brother keeps reminding me of our commitment to fly to Vegas.  Hmm…
13. I ordered some Earth Boxes and I am hoping they will be in today.  Jman and I are going to do some porch gardening and it would be great to get the plants into the planters this weekend.  Fresh tomatos, peppers, and herbs are what we are anticipating, yeah!

Hope everyone has a great Thursday!

Tile Replacement

My landlord (who is really an exceptional person) is having my tile replaced in my upstairs bathroom.  So now I am waiting for workmen to show up so I can let them in and then head off to work.  Having done tile work myself, it shouldn’t take them long to pull up, prep, and set the tile.  Grouting is a little different story though, so not sure how long my bathroom will be under siege.  Egad, I might have to revert to primitive methods to get clean.  I guess the new tile will be worth it.

Walking and Talking

Last night I went walking with two people I dearly love.  It followed the deep and emotional Al-Anon meeting and was a great salve for what was ailing me.  We walked, talked, and laughed for the whole 3.6 miles.  Walking always makes me feel better but laughing… laughing brings true healing to the psyche and strengthens the already tight bond we share, but more importantly, laughter removes the heaviness of life.